Boing Boing » Megan Ganzhttp://boingboing.net
Brain candy for Happy MutantsSun, 02 Aug 2015 19:28:50 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.2The very excellent Megan Ganz has left Community to write for Modern Familyhttp://boingboing.net/2013/01/03/megan-ganz-leaves-community.html
http://boingboing.net/2013/01/03/megan-ganz-leaves-community.html#commentsThu, 03 Jan 2013 22:28:39 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=203941One of Community's most notable and popular writers, Megan Ganz, has announced in a Reddit post that she's taken a position at ABC's Modern Family.]]>One of Community's most notable and popular writers, Megan Ganz, has announced in a Reddit post that she's taken a position at ABC's Modern Family. While it's sad to see her go, it's hard to blame her for leaving when there is constantly a question about Community's future. But at least we'll get to see two more episodes in Season 4 that were written by Ganz, and she'll be staying on to oversee the editing of those two episodes ("Paranormal Parentage" and the season finale, "Advanced Introduction to Finality"). Said the scribe:

We filmed the bottle episode in chronological order so this was the first line that we shot and I remember sitting at the monitors at 7am on the first day thinking, "If they call action and no one runs in here screaming 'stop the TV-equivalent of presses,' then I will have written a line that will appear on a television show. I'll be a television writer." And the director did call action–as they do–and so I was. Just like that. ...

This isn't the end of me and Greendale. Community was my world for four seasons and my job for three, and has hold of my whole heart like a bad-news high school boyfriend. I'll never really get away. The chemistry is too perfect and the writing room couches aren't really that uncomfortable to sleep on and I just can't stop writing for Britta. Plus I still have to do my editing pass on the finale. I think I left a box in my office, too. Bobrow probably misses me. Better stop by on my way home.

Ganz's voice on Community will definitely be missed, but I prefer to see her gainfully employed rather than suddenly silenced or underutilized. I will probably also really, truly have to start watching Modern Family now.

Dan Harmon recently conducted an AMA on Reddit, in which he revealed that in the emotionally charged season finale of Community, "Digital Estate Planning," Chevy Chase didn't show up to film a scene that was partially told via an original 8-bit video game.

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Dan Harmon recently conducted an AMA on Reddit, in which he revealed that in the emotionally charged season finale of Community, "Digital Estate Planning," Chevy Chase didn't show up to film a scene that was partially told via an original 8-bit video game. Since it was the last day of shooting, it was their last chance to do the scene, and they lost it. So one Reddit user, Derferman, of /r/hawkthorne, created the scene and made it downloadable for everyone to play out the scene for themselves. Community writer Megan Ganz was positively verklempt and showed it to the cast this morning.

It is a full-on Community-Harmontown lovefest, kids.

Harmon, who proved himself to be an extremely human human being in this AMA, didn't hold back when asked about the Chevy Chase question. Probably not because he no longer runs his show, but because he is Dan Harmon. And while there were no secrets that Harmon and Chase had, ahem, issues towards the end of the third season, the former didn't shy away from providing details about Chase walking off the set and his own disappointment. According to Harmon in the AMA, Chase expressed issues with the quality of the script, that he had problems with the name "Cornelius" (the name of his character's father), and all sorts of things that reminded everyone that Chevy Chase has never been easy to work with. (To his credit, Harmon has never once claimed to be a saint.) A shiny new revelation that did come out of the AMA, however, was that there was a lost scene that would have been great, and the fact that it was lost is a huge bummer. But now, it lives in the form of a fan-made video game.

The game, Journey to the Center of Hawkthorne, has been an ongoing project since the episode aired, but this scene is new, now that a new part of the story has been introduced. And it is making people feel serious feelings. The scene involves Chase's character, Pierce, playing catch with the floating head of his late father, and hearing "That's my boy!" while scoring a thousand points every time he throws the ball. All of this happens while the Britta-bot music from last season's stop-motion Christmas episode plays, a song that causes even more emotional crying events in Community fans. Upon scoring 4,000 points, sad Pierce finally smiles.

Ganz had promised to show the cast and crew the game, and reported back this morning that they loved it. Though she did avoid showing it to Chase ("Didn't want to stir that pot"). Probably for the best.

It might not be a winner in ye olde fashioned ratings. As Harmon put it, "network TV doesn't know the internet exists yet." But Community's internet fan base is alive and well, even with the changing of the guards.